Centre for Science & Environment comments on the draft policy document of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), Phase II
"The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission will be in the second phase starting from 2013 up to 2017. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has therefore come up with its draft policy document on the programmes for the second phase. The document is available for public comments. The draft policy document on the phase II of the national solar mission focuses mainly on the grid connected solar programs. It suggests financing the majority of the proposed 2600 MW of solar energy in the second phase through Viability Gap Funding, which in turn is funded by the National Clean Energy Fund. Similarly the draft suggests dependency on capital subsidies for funding off-grid solar lighting. Capital subsidies for renewable energy, both off-grid and on-grid, have been abandoned in favour of some kind of generation based incentives or other financial instruments like soft loans in the case of off-grid solar in almost all parts of the world. The draft continues this conservative approach to funding renewable energy projects. Besides, it lacks clarity and detailing in several issues. CSE's comments on the draft policy document have been presented in the following PDF...."